ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like.

Welcome back to What’s Next in Tech. In this edition, discover why it’s up to us to decide whether generative AI models will lead to widespread prosperity or exacerbate wealth inequality. Then, learn about the newly revealed coronavirus data that reignited a debate over the virus’s origins, and find out how Amazon wants to take on Starlink in a battle for satellite internet dominance.?

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New large language models will transform many jobs. Whether they will lead to widespread prosperity or not is up to us.

Whether it’s based on hallucinatory beliefs or not, a gold rush has started over the last several months to make money from generative AI models like ChatGPT.

You can practically hear the shrieks from corner offices around the world: “What is our ChatGPT play? How do we make money off this?”

But while companies and executives want to cash in, the likely impact of generative AI on workers and the economy on the whole is far less obvious.?

Will ChatGPT make the already troubling income and wealth inequality in the US and many other countries even worse, or could it in fact provide a much-needed boost to productivity? Read the story.

The best way to stay ahead of what’s next in emerging technology is with an MIT Technology Review subscription. Get insider access to insights like these today.

Newly revealed coronavirus data has reignited a debate over the virus’s origins

Last week, we saw the resurgence of a debate that has been swirling since the start of the pandemic—where did the virus that causes covid-19 come from?

For the most part, scientists have maintained that the virus probably jumped from an animal to a human at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan at some point in late 2019. But some claim that the virus leaped from humans to animals, rather than the other way around. And many continue to claim that the virus somehow leaked from a nearby laboratory that was studying coronaviruses in bats.?

Data collected in 2020—and kept from public view since then—potentially adds weight to the animal theory. It highlights a potential suspect: the raccoon dog. But exactly how much weight it adds depends on who you ask. Read the story.

Amazon is about to go head to head with SpaceX in a battle for satellite internet dominance

What’s coming: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are about to lock horns once again. Last month, the US Federal Communications Commission approved the final aspects of Project Kuiper, Amazon’s effort to deliver high-speed internet access from space. In May, the company will test its satellites in an effort to take on SpaceX’s own venture, Starlink, and tap into a potentially very lucrative market.

The catch: The key difference is that Starlink is operational, and has been for years, whereas Amazon doesn’t plan to start offering Kuiper as a service until 2024, giving SpaceX a considerable head start. Also, none of the rockets Amazon has bought a ride on has yet made it to space. Read the story.

Get ahead with our most-discussed stories:

1. The inside story of how ChatGPT was built from the people who made it — Exclusive conversations with four people who helped build ChatGPT take us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon.
2. Artificial general intelligence: Are we close, and does it even make sense to try? — A machine that could think like a person has been the guiding vision of AI research since the earliest days… and remains its most divisive idea.
3. Microplastics are messing with the microbiomes of seabirds — New research suggests that ingesting microplastics messes with seagulls' microbiomes. The next step is to work out what this might mean for their health and the health of other animals, including humans.

Images: Stephanie Arnett/MITTR; Getty Images; United Launch Alliance